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Nature

In Our Time: Science

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The Origins of Inequality

John Jacques Russo is the absolute crucial figure here, and he's precisely the opposite of Hobbes. So to him, nature was wild. Nature was something against which civilized men and women had to defend themselves. We bind ourselves in a social contract to establish a sovereign who will govern us all. And I think if I were Hobbes, I'd go on from there and say that one of the great things that we can establish, if we have a legal order, is a garden. That garden will then be a symbol of what nature would be had it been created by a divine order.

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